Local Prairie & History of Shirley, IL

Local Prairie and History of Shirley, IL. . , Native American groups in the area included the Illini, Peoria, Sauk, and Kickapoo, along with several others. Due to historical erasure of these marginalized peoples, it is difficult to find detailed information about their involvement in this specific area., There was "little settlement" in the roadless prairie area around Shirley until the railroad between Springfield and Bloomington was completed on October 16th, 1853. The Shirley school district was established in 1854. Many of the students in later years were civil war refugees from Kentucky. A few years later, the 1859 McLean County Directory shows 24 households in the area. A few of the first households include the Moberly, Quinn, Park, Lain, and Boulware families, who all migrated from Madison County, Kentucky. In 1866, the year John Foster plotted the Village of Shirley, the village lay on both sides of the railroad. There is also evidence of a hotel that was used by the railroad workers. Before it was easy to travel to Bloomington, Shirley had Hutchinson's store and J.P. Walter's store for groceries. The Shirley Farmers Grain and Coal Company was organized in 1903. Important roads included Route 4, which went by Shirley from 1922 until it became a part of Route 66, and later I-55. , Importance of the Prairie , Prairie grasslands are a valuable biome due to the habitat, species diversity, soil quality, and natural beauty they provide. Prairies are a complex ecosystem with much biodiversity. The soil absorbs water to prevent runoff, the plants and other organic material build quality, nutrient rich soil which captures carbon and sediment, and native prairie plants are excellent support for pollinators. , There are currently very few remnant prairies remaining in Illinois, less than 1% of the original. However, prairie restoration and conservation is a growing movement, as seen in the establishment of projects such as this one. , Natural History of Shirley Area , This plot of land sits atop one of the many moraines in central an northeastern Illinois. A moraine is a geological structure formed by glaciers. As glaciers, like the ones that used to cover much of what is now Canada and the northern portion of the United States, formed and receded, they flattened much of the land by scraping away dirt and rock. However, this glacial movement also created deposits of sediment, small rolling hills known as moraines. Glacial lakes are a smaller geological phenomena, formed as the glaciers carved out sediment rather than depositing it. , For many years, Shirley and the surrounding area was a tall grassland biome. The prairie would have been distinct to the area, as specific plants and animals of the North American prairie grasslands tended to vary area by area. Notable such plants include honeysuckle, elderberry, trillium, may apple, shooting star, spiderwort, beebalm, wild senna, big bluestem, coneflower, milkweed, rattlesnake master, prairie dock, cup plant, compass plant, goldenrod, and prairie dropseed. Animals of the prairie include prairie chickens, pheasants, snakes, and countless species of birds and butterflies. This prairie provided priceless habitat and was immensely valuable before its destruction due to colonialism and subsequent farming. , Fire, either through natural wildfires or controlled burns, is an important aspect of the prairie. Regular burns are beneficial as they reduce dead organic matter, prevent trees form taking over, and allow for plants, most of which lie dormant in the winter months, to regrow year after year. Unfortunately, this plot of prairie cannot be subjected to control burns as it is too close to the interstate. , History of the Railroad in Shirley , Prior to 1909, the Shirley, Atlanta-Lawndale, and Bloomington hills were difficult for trains to climb; 2 engines were needed for the steep grades. On July 31st, 1909 in Alton, IL, 8,000 feet of track were successfully shifted to a lower level using a steam shovel, and the spare dirt was used to fill the right-of-way north of Shirley up to the level of the main track. On August 1st, 1909, a team of 200 workers started shifting train tracks to the newly cut lower path through the Bloomington hill. , The Shirley hill project was larger and took longer to complete, with 60 men working on the project. It was meant to take only about 6 weeks, but due to sand and water in the area, the Shirley cut wasn't completed until late spring to early summer of 1910, nearly a year after the project began. A steam shovel was used to make a 2 mile long cut, the deepest part being about 20 feet deep, near the spot where the old train depot was located east of the tracks. The depot was later moved to the west side of the tracks, as well as Shirley's post office and a majority of the existing businesses. A staircase was constructed to get from the new depot and down to the tracks, and a large bridge was put up above the tracks. The Shirley train depot ceased passenger service in 1970 and was sold to Robert Rehymeyer in 1975, who moved the building to Funks Grove to be used as an antique shop. A single train track still runs through Shirley at the time of this sign's installment in 2022.